Well, boys and girls, the NBA trade deadline came and passed today at 3pm ET. What 3 things have we learned in the last 3 weeks? Let's review.

1. Dwight Howard is NOT Shaquille O'neal (yet). - The fact that Dwight is staying in Orlando is great for the Magic and everybody else who loves basketball around Disneyworld. How fitting? Only Disneyworld itself can actually compare to the circus Howard brought to Orlando this season. I applaud him for staying, and for apologizing for all the nonsense, but why now? Did the Magic convince him that if he's patient they will actually build around him? Reports are that Howard wanted the Magic to make a move for Steve Nash, but the Suns made it clear that they would not deal Nash unless he asked for a trade (I will touch on this later). Dwight said today that he "got some bad advice". From who? His agent? The guy who wasn't his agent when he signed his last contract and didn't make a cut? I can't imagine why that guy would wanna see him in a bigger market...... Either way, Magic fans can breathe a sigh of relief because they get to keep dating one of the hottest girls in school for another year.

2. Jeremy Lin is NOT Steve Nash - "Linsanity" was fun. So was "Tebowmania". Personally, I preferred "Hulkamania"...but that was years ago. However, the awesomeness that Lin put up for 2 weeks in February seems to have fizzled out faster than a topless 2-liter of two week old soda. Known ball-buster Carmelo Anthony isn't helping much. Since he has come back, Linsanity has died, they lost 6 straight, and now D'antoni has quit. They had a blowout win over Portland last night, an obvious response to the criticism, but hopefully Mike Woodson can get a system in place that works for these guys. There is just too much talent on the Knicks for them to suck this bad.

3. Steve Nash is NOT Lebron James - Nash may be 38, but you would never know by watching him play. The Suns probably could have gotten a decent pull if they traded him now, but they took the high road and elected not to drop a bomb on their season. and more importantly their fans, by not shipping Nash out of town. Now, we can gracefully say goodbye to our Canadian hero before he becomes a free agent in the off-season and gets offered more money than the Suns can pay him. It would have been easy for Nash to say "TRADE ME", and they would have done it if he pressed, but that's not Steve. If Nash does leave, hopefully he gets paired up with a team that can give him a chance to finally win a ring. Didn't I say something about Dwight Howard earlier? What about the Knicks? Now that Linsanity has fizzled out, are NY fans still hoping for a Nash/Stoudimire reunion, or did that idea die when D'Antoni left NYC?

Well, boys and girls, the NBA trade deadline came and passed today at 3pm ET. What 3 things have we learned in the last 3 weeks? Let's review.

1. Dwight Howard is NOT Shaquille O'neal (yet). - The fact that Dwight is staying in Orlando is great for the Magic and everybody else who loves basketball around Disneyworld. How fitting? Only Disneyworld itself can actually compare to the circus Howard brought to Orlando this season. I applaud him for staying, and for apologizing for all the nonsense, but why now? Did the Magic convince him that if he's patient they will actually build around him? Reports are that Howard wanted the Magic to make a move for Steve Nash, but the Suns made it clear that they would not deal Nash unless he asked for a trade (I will touch on this later). Dwight said today that he "got some bad advice". From who? His agent? The guy who wasn't his agent when he signed his last contract and didn't make a cut? I can't imagine why that guy would wanna see him in a bigger market...... Either way, Magic fans can breathe a sigh of relief because they get to keep dating one of the hottest girls in school for another year.

2. Jeremy Lin is NOT Steve Nash - "Linsanity" was fun. So was "Tebowmania". Personally, I preferred "Hulkamania"...but that was years ago. However, the awesomeness that Lin put up for 2 weeks in February seems to have fizzled out faster than a topless 2-liter of two week old soda. Known ball-buster Carmelo Anthony isn't helping much. Since he has come back, Linsanity has died, they lost 6 straight, and now D'antoni has quit. They had a blowout win over Portland last night, an obvious response to the criticism, but hopefully Mike Woodson can get a system in place that works for these guys. There is just too much talent on the Knicks for them to suck this bad.

3. Steve Nash is NOT Lebron James - Nash may be 38, but you would never know by watching him play. The Suns probably could have gotten a decent pull if they traded him now, but they took the high road and elected not to drop a bomb on their season. and more importantly their fans, by not shipping Nash out of town. Now, we can gracefully say goodbye to our Canadian hero before he becomes a free agent in the off-season and gets offered more money than the Suns can pay him. It would have been easy for Nash to say "TRADE ME", and they would have done it if he pressed, but that's not Steve. If Nash does leave, hopefully he gets paired up with a team that can give him a chance to finally win a ring. Didn't I say something about Dwight Howard earlier? What about the Knicks? Now that Linsanity has fizzled out, are NY fans still hoping for a Nash/Stoudimire reunion, or did that idea die when D'Antoni left NYC?

Love me some NBA.

This is why Nash is my favorite NBAer after VCU grads Eric Maynor (out with an ACL tear) & Larry Sanders (playing for the Buck's D-League team). The guy's downright amazing. I would love to see him finally get the championship he deserves.

This is why Nash is my favorite NBAer after VCU grads Eric Maynor (out with an ACL tear) & Larry Sanders (playing for the Buck's D-League team). The guy's downright amazing. I would love to see him finally get the championship he deserves.

I have a purple Nash jersey hanging on a wall in my house that I have worn to every Suns game I've ever attended (except ONE when I wore my Amare jersey). It hangs on a regular clothes hanger next to a poster of Nash that I have had for years. When I am going to a game, or I am in "WAR SUNS" mode, the jersey comes off the hanger and I wear it with pride (though I've lost enough weight to use it as a parachute, still, using a mesh b-ball jersey as an actual parachute is probably not logical). The jersey looks old and weathered, with threads on the letters and numbers coming loose from years of wear and tear. When Steve decides to put the Suns on the hanger, I will put that jersey in a frame and retire the number 13 in the house of JB for all eternity.

I obviously am not thrilled about Nash going to the Lakers, but it is what it is. I hope he gets a ring, because he deserves it, but we gotta see how it all comes together on the court and how healthy Nash and Kobe can stay.

It's also a different beast when it comes to playing for the Lakers in terms of expectations and media scrutiny, and Steve definitely knew that going in. Arizona has some great sports fans, but a lot of us who live here are transients from all over the country (mostly the Chicago area, like myself), and they bring their loyalties with them to Arizona. In turn, the teams here need to work harder to get asses in the seats at every game, so when a player like Nash or Larry Fitzgerald comes along, they generally get treated like royalty by not only the fans, but the media as well. When he plays for the Lakers, the scrutiny will be much harder than it ever was here in Phoenix, because it's the Lakers. It's win or go home, EVEN if you are Kobe Bryant, and Kobe knows that too in the back of his mind. That franchise has done nothing but win, and they could suck for 5 years straight and every game would still be sold out. But they never truly "suck" (at least, not for long), because they are the Lakers and big time players will always want to play there (until the Earth covers it in water, then Arizona will have the nice ocean front property). I'm not saying I don't think Nash can handle it, because I think he can, but he's also in the twilight of his career and I'm sure there is a threshold for the amount of crap he's willing to put himself through both on and off the court.

Going back to Phoenix sports fans for a minute, we get a lot of crap from other cities in terms of how we are when it comes to sports, but that culture is changing over the last 12 years. The reason for that has been because of 3 things.

1. The Cardinals coming withing 2 minutes of winning a Super Bowl (also the Cards getting their own brand new stadium).

2. The Diamondbacks winning the World Series.

3. The run of success the Suns had during the Nash/Amar'e/ D'Antoni "7 seconds or less" era, and subsequent battles with the Spurs and Lakers (both champions) during that time.

Regardless of that, Nash will always be remembered for his brilliance during his time with the Suns unless the Lakers start training with Chael Sonnen and win more than one championship. Speaking of Chael Sonnen, I just finished reading his book and I think I'm gonna take a page out of it by referring to the Cardinals as the true Super Bowl 43 Champions.

I obviously am not thrilled about Nash going to the Lakers, but it is what it is. I hope he gets a ring, because he deserves it, but we gotta see how it all comes together on the court and how healthy Nash and Kobe can stay.

It's also a different beast when it comes to playing for the Lakers in terms of expectations and media scrutiny, and Steve definitely knew that going in. Arizona has some great sports fans, but a lot of us who live here are transients from all over the country (mostly the Chicago area, like myself), and they bring their loyalties with them to Arizona. In turn, the teams here need to work harder to get asses in the seats at every game, so when a player like Nash or Larry Fitzgerald comes along, they generally get treated like royalty by not only the fans, but the media as well. When he plays for the Lakers, the scrutiny will be much harder than it ever was here in Phoenix, because it's the Lakers. It's win or go home, EVEN if you are Kobe Bryant, and Kobe knows that too in the back of his mind. That franchise has done nothing but win, and they could suck for 5 years straight and every game would still be sold out. But they never truly "suck" (at least, not for long), because they are the Lakers and big time players will always want to play there (until the Earth covers it in water, then Arizona will have the nice ocean front property). I'm not saying I don't think Nash can handle it, because I think he can, but he's also in the twilight of his career and I'm sure there is a threshold for the amount of crap he's willing to put himself through both on and off the court.

Going back to Phoenix sports fans for a minute, we get a lot of crap from other cities in terms of how we are when it comes to sports, but that culture is changing over the last 12 years. The reason for that has been because of 3 things.

1. The Cardinals coming withing 2 minutes of winning a Super Bowl (also the Cards getting their own brand new stadium).

2. The Diamondbacks winning the World Series.

3. The run of success the Suns had during the Nash/Amar'e/ D'Antoni "7 seconds or less" era, and subsequent battles with the Spurs and Lakers (both champions) during that time.

Regardless of that, Nash will always be remembered for his brilliance during his time with the Suns unless the Lakers start training with Chael Sonnen and win more than one championship. Speaking of Chael Sonnen, I just finished reading his book and I think I'm gonna take a page out of it by referring to the Cardinals as the true Super Bowl 43 Champions.

Also, I just noticed my last two posts in this thread from back in March and I have two quick things to say about those posts...

1. I am not sure why I said "Steve Nash is not LeBron James" in reference to the "trade me now" stuff. I think I meant to say "Carmelo Anthony". Either way, I feel like an idiot.

2. It's kinda sad, funny, and a little creepy, that I referenced the Nash jersey in that post and this thread was brought back up today. I've been rearranging my house this last week and yesterday I decided, since Nash is no longer a member of the Suns, it was time to take that old jersey down and frame it up. It won't be seeing any more Suns games, and it's served me well. So today I planned to stop a few places and look for a decent frame. However, the jersey is still hanging on the wall to my left, and I fear it senses something is askew. Is this what Travis felt before he took Old Yeller out behind the barn?